disclaimer(requested by d): this is NOT the actual color of the petroglyphs. while some refer to the folks who left these darling prints as “Anasazi”, d wants me to mention that it is politically correct to call them “ancestral Puebloans”, but, that just does not roll off the tongue of today’s travel novice.

here is a random flower, photographed in may on the same utah hike. again, d wants me to mention that this is NOT the actual color. he wants me to point out that i was playing around with my photo editor program, which is true.

seeing the world through chartreuse colored lenses:

a side note: i like the new color scheme, and fancy that this is what the flower would look like to a bumble bee or a butterfly. or…..a zygodactyl alien with one eye. heh heh, just kidding d. just trying to find a reason to mention fox mulder in a blog.

we had our first work happy hour since i started working at the studio two years ago. birthdays were celebrated, but mainly it was just a chance to get together with eachother, which we never do.

a couple of us brought snacks, mine was homemade salsa. now, there are tons of delicious salsa recipes. i got one from my mom with a key ingredient (posssssibly accidentally) missing. i just like this one because it is very fresh and you can taste the garlic and the cilantro in it. and it got really great reviews tonight, which i didn’t expect, so i decided to post it here:

tips:

make salsa the day before, at least, so the flavors can blend. it really does taste so much better! the peppers get hotter, and the garlic mellows.

use fresh, locally grown tomatoes, not ones that were ripened in the store. they’ll be sweeter, firm enough AND juicy.

i like to add cilantro the next day. it seems tangy and really stands out.

i used organic garlic i picked myself from my friend’s farm.

1/4 cup chopped green onion (whites & tops)

4 cloves garlic – chopped

1 small can diced chillis

1 medium anaheim chilli (this is medium hot)

4 diced tomatoes

1 half can stewed tomatos (mostly the juice part)

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1 fresh chopped jalapeno (optional, because this makes it HOT)

salt & pepper taste, squirt of fresh lime juice.

no leftovers!

so, the mingling happened…

it was really fun. lots of laughing, and you know, i really like these people. they’re all really nice. y brought a delicious chocolate bundt from scratch, as well as “cowboy cavier”. so delicious. we had some cheese cubes, too, but …cheese cubes are cheese cubes. we had nimbus pale ale and dos XX beers. for the salsa and cowboy caviar, the dos XX was definitely the better pairing. and of course, what beer goes with cake.

ok, so maybe it doesn’t look like they’re having the best time, but….there really was alot of laughing banter. ok well, that is it for tonight.

for my birthday, dave, lynn and hannah ordered the canine heritage breed test for me. we expect the results any day now. please look at these pictures and venture a guess in comments. we would love it if you did!!

that isn’t my favorite shot, but it shows his coat pretty well. he looks so serious! (i’ll post some shots of him having fun in future days!)

here he is before work one day:

here is a close up of his head. he has that neotony/puppy thing going on, even though he was almost 3 in this shot:

i have had some great guesses from friends, one particular mix keeps popping up. and, while it seems to be majority for golden chow, i don’t think that is what he is. they aren’t the best pictures, but they each give an idea of what he looks like.

here is an older picture:

i can’t wait to get the results. 1. obviously just curiosity, 2. it might help me deal with some of his behavior. he is so smart and wonderful, but does have some interesting habits, fears. he is terrified of other dogs. he wants to hunt down every cat in town. he has learned more tricks than any dog i have personally met. and waffles between sheer independance and blind loyalty/neediness. i just love him so so so much.

i LOVE sunset magazine…..11 months of the year. LOVE it! but the november issue always angers me because it always have a lovely, golden, roasted turkey on the cover. and every year my poor mother listens to me rant about how the editors can’t find a new idea. thanksgiving. turkey. autumn. turkey. holidays. turkey. thursday my mom called from her town. the sunset had just arrived and, guess what? no turkey.

i know its silly, but, it really has been pissing me off. and every fall i say i’m done. i’m not looking at their damn magazine anymore. but there you see it: a spice cake, some cookies and some sort of orangey cheese cakey wonderful sweetiness. i flippin’ love sunset!

in dinner news:

was at the animal shelter till about 8:30, so dinner was super late, but super yummy: hummus, rice pilaf with a small bit of mushroom, spinach sauteed with fresh garlic and some sassy cumin, a glass if mirrassou merlot. num num.

in dog land:

mom was visiting for the day and went to see her grand dog kick fuzzy but at dog school today. he did a down-stay for a minute with me out of the room. i think she may have been impressed. i was. he squeaked a little, and when i came back, he looked freaked out. but he won the competition of the day…. cuz he’s a good bear!

ha……ha…..HA. dear mother thinks she is funny cuz she made a joke about me getting old, but, well….

i don’t know how it happened. mom came down for the day. we chatted. stopped at dirty dawgs to pick up cat and dog chow. went to have margaritas and food….stuffs.

then mom pulled out the texas hold ’em kit. that’s fine. your decision. you could have quietly lost to “hand and foot” or conventional canasta, but you brought the “big game”.

well, notice the chips people. mine are in front. hers are in back.

later, we retired to the living room. somehow the topic of my birthday came up. (somehow? i bring up my birthday alot. i frequently gun for free stuff. ) turns out….mom thinks i’m older than i actually am. the year of birth had to be thrown into the mix. and she just thinks its super funny that i’m lookin’ old, too. (nice)

moving on….

poor cody bear. gramma keeps calling his name. its really vexing. as punishment… gramma is being forced to go to dog school tomorrow. heheh heh!

this picture was taken a few weeks ago with my mobile phone. april and i were at “our” place, a cajun bar/restaurant in our neighborhood (kind of). we won’t be going this weekend, as she has many halloween activities planned, but dave and i might grab a pint when he gets done hiking and i get done volunteering on saturday.

i just think blogs need pictures, that’s all.

so, here’s what is going down this weekend:

mom arrives this afternoon for a late birthday celebration. possibly pasta, a girl can hope. early up tomorrow morning to take the bear to school, then an activity with mom before she heads back out of town.

i’ll do some work that afternoon, then work at the animal shelter saturday night helping with a class meant to make aggressive dogs less aggressive. (good luck with that, right?) then possibly a beer. sunday, maybe shopping for glasses for april. she’s never needed them before, so could be slight trauma, we’ll see. then work for a few hours. as you can see, a weekend full of high glamour!!!!